Write out your plan, your goals, look at your goals everyday, one thing at a time, yet knowing how your next move will impact the move after that. 

I always view things from a liability exposure position when I consider things like this regarding my tenants. 

If positive you could redeploy that capital into another asset.

and will reply to your offer letter by either calling you or signing the actual offer and returning it back to you ready to move forward.That's how I find the "motivated sellers" ready to deal.Then, once I received hundreds of these offers back, I then examine the property specifics and work out the numbers to see if the deal is good or not based on the numbers.Also, your offer letter will state exactly how much you're willing to offer to the owner so you are already in a position to make money should they respond...and some of them will. 

Now we pay a bunch of fees to Nevada for renewal of the registered agent and  to keep it operational (over $500/year) but it doesnt have any impact on our ability to do business in Ohio. 

Figure out what route you want to do for sure but if you intent to house hack you will want good credit for lending and the more money you have saved the better position you will put yourself in.

Proximity to highway 70 and 270 has a huge impact on demand and large effect on rental rates/home prices. 2.

Congratulations on being in a position to be able to leave your job to dedicate yourself full time to REI.

Rehabbing and flipping seems that it would better suit my current position, but ultimately I would love to own/rent to produce steady streams of income.

Houston is the 4th largest city in the nation with 2.3 million people with projected positive job growth.